The price of eggs in the United States is approaching its record level, catapulted by an episode of avian flu which now affects half of the country and has already led to the slaughter of more than 17 million poultry.
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The price of eggs in the market benchmark Midwest region hit a range between $2.82 and $2.85 per dozen last week, up 50% from February, according to published figures. by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
It is approaching the record level of 3.02 dollars reached in August 2015, during the previous epizootic, the largest in the country’s history, which led to the slaughter of more than 50 million animals.
“It’s just a matter of supply and demand,” said Simon Shane, consultant and publisher of Egg-News.com. “Millions of poultry had to be slaughtered and that reduced the supply.”
The price of whole chicken has increased by 28% since mid-February, although it is mainly laying hen farms that have been affected.
Two farms in Iowa alone had to cull more than 5 million birds each.
According to Simon Shane, the shortage following the episode of avian flu in 2015 had been partly offset by an increase in imports of liquid eggs (without shell) from Europe.
But “given the war in Ukraine, we cannot turn to Europe” this time, he said. “We can’t count on anyone.”
When it comes to animal replacement, “you have to wait 26 weeks (following the birth of a chick) before you can get eggs of the correct size, which can be sold,” says Simon Shane. “So there is no immediate solution.”
In 2014/15, the peak of contaminations came regarding four months following the discovery of the first case. For the current episode, the first case was identified in early January in a wild duck.
Moreover, during the previous episode, in 2015, egg prices had continued to rise several months following this peak, until August of the same year.
Europe has also been affected since the fall by an episode of bird flu, the most serious in the case of France, where more than ten million poultry had to be euthanized.